Garni

Sometimes our excursions are kind of average and sometimes they're really great. This past weekend was a great one- we went to Garni and Geghart, probably the two most famous tourist attractions in Armenia. As an added bonus, when you enter the complex there are local women outside selling homemade jam, honey, sujukh, and dried fruits rolls. The sujukh is so fresh and sweet you can't get enough of it. 

Garni is the one and only preserved pagan temple in Armenia. As the story goes, with the adoption of Christianity all pagan temples were destroyed one by one. Garni was spared because the kings wife reminded her husband that it had special meaning for them because it was where they got married and spent their honeymoon. Preserved thanks to the quick thinking of a woman- of course. 

Garni is really very well preserved and has been restored several times. The complex itself has the complete temple intact, the ruins of the palace, and the preserved Roman baths. The surrounding countryside is absolutely beautiful with its gorges, mountains, rivers, and lush greenery. In the rain  and fog  which we got to see it, it was even more beautiful. You can just feel the gods smiling down on you....

(Images from top: View of the exterior covered in rain and fog-very surreal, views of the green landscape from Garni, Zara and I posing in the fog, Birthright  Director Sevan and our tour guide Mikhael, Melody amidst the greenery, our group posing before the temple, Melody and I-look how small we look in comparison, those fruit roll ups I was talking about, army boys there to clean up the surrounding area).